Organization Science
Volume 26, Issue 4, July-August 2015
1. Title: Transactive Memory Systems and Firm Performance: An Upper Echelons
Perspective
Authors: Ciaran Heavey, Zeki Simsek
Abstract: A substantial body of research uses the concept of transactive memory
systems to describe, explain, and predict the behavior and performance of teams. In a
multirespondent study of 99 small to midsized technology-based firms, we extend the
concept into the unique context of top management teams and discuss its implications for
firm performance. Building on the multifunctional and boundary-spanning role of top
managers, we develop a novel theoretical account of how the performance implications of
transactive memory are shaped by the individual and conjoint influences of a top
management team’s external social network ties and the rate of dynamism in the firm’s
competitive environment. In so doing, we link top management team transactive memory
to firm performance through transformation—more than through application—of existing
scholarly understanding and through distinct operating mechanisms informed by an upper
echelons perspective of the firm. Our theory and supportive findings provide new
evidence on the relationship between transactive memory and firm performance. We
conclude by tracing the implications of our findings for upper echelons and transactive
memory research.
2. Title: Senior Managers’ Sensemaking and Responses to Strategic Change
Authors: Julia Balogun, Jean M. Bartunek, Boram Do
Abstract: Our longitudinal study of the sensemaking and responses to strategic change
of the senior management team of a UK multinational subsidiary provides unusual data
that enable us to explore the complexity of senior team change related sensemaking. We
show senior teams to be distinct interpretive communities rather than one homogeneous
category of change agents, as typically portrayed in change literature, who at times of
center-led strategic change occupy a complex dual recipient/change agent role. By
adopting a narrative approach, we show the shared sensemaking of such a team to be
impacted by the locally differentiated nature of its interpretive and relational contexts,
leading to context specific interpretations of center-led change and locally distinct
responses, with consequences for change outcomes. We found that because of their dual
role, senior managers construct two sets of interwoven and interacting change narratives
which mediate the relationship between the wider organizational change and local change
actions. Our analysis reveals how these evaluations of change, accompanied by affect,
evolve over time and how they impact action. These findings contribute to existing
theories of sensemaking and change by addressing the previously undertheorized
relationship between senior management teams’ sensemaking and their responses to
strategic change.
3. Title: The Paradox of Corrupt Networks: An Analysis of Organizational Crime at
Enron
Authors: Brandy L. Aven
Abstract: Despite the prevalence of organizational crime and renewed academic interest
in corruption, the coordination of corrupt activities remains undertheorized. This study
uses longitudinal data based on the email communication from Enron Corporation prior to
its demise and couples qualitative coding techniques with social network analysis to
understand the effects of corruption on communication behavior. By contrasting the
evolution of corrupt and noncorrupt projects at Enron, I examine how corruption influences
the way individuals attempt to remain undetected while sharing information. Although
transitive communications were not different at the projects’ onsets, the members of
corrupt projects communicate less and have fewer reciprocal relations than the
noncorrupt project members. But as the corrupt project members’ tenure on a project
increases, their behavior tends to become more similar to the behavior of the noncorrupt
project members. Potential mechanisms are explored to explain this finding. This study
provides insight into how corruption is coordinated within firms over time and highlights
the role of information in understanding the emergent properties of social networks.
4. Title: Embracing, Passing, Revealing, and the Ideal Worker Image: How People
Navigate Expected and Experienced Professional Identities
Authors: Erin Reid
Abstract: This paper examines how people navigate organizational pressures to
embrace a professional identity that—like the ideal worker image—centers on devotion to
work. My field study of a consulting firm demonstrated that although some people easily
embrace this expected identity, for others, it conflicts with their experienced professional
identity. I found that people cope with this conflict by straying from the expected identity
while passing as having embraced it or revealing their deviance. Analyzing 115 interviews,
performance evaluations, and turnover data, I trace how and why people manage their
deviance differently across audiences within the organization, show the interdependence
of these efforts, and illuminate consequences for how they are perceived and evaluated.
In the firm I studied, although both men and women strayed, men were more likely than
women to pass. Together, these findings highlight the importance of deviance and its
management to people’s professional identities, offer new insights regarding the ideal
worker image’s relationship to gender inequality, and enrich theory on passing and
revealing.
5. Title: Distrust in the Balance: The Emergence and Development of Intergroup
Distrust in a Court of Law
Authors: Katinka Bijlsma-Frankema, Sim B. Sitkin, Antoinette Weibel
Abstract: Despite recent attention to trust, comparatively little is known about distrust as
distinct from trust. In this paper, we drew on case study data of a reorganized court of law,
where intergroup distrust had grown between judges and administrators, to develop a
dynamic theory of distrust. We used insights from the literatures on distrust, conflict
escalation, and professional–organization relations to guide the analysis of our case data.
Our research is consistent with insights on distrust previously postulated, but we were
able to extend and make more precise the perceptions and behaviors that make up the
elements of the self-amplifying cycle of distrust development, how these elements are
related, and the mechanisms of amplification that drive the cycle. To help guide and focus
future research, we modeled the process by which distrust emerges and develops, and
we drew inferences on how it can be repaired.
6. Title: The Strength of Many Kinds of Ties: Unpacking the Role of Social Contacts
Across Stages of the Job Search Process
Authors: Roxana Barbulescu
Abstract: The topic of job mobility has received increasing attention in recent years. Yet,
surprising in light of the wealth of research on social networks and job attainment, we do
not have a unified model of the impact of different kinds of social contacts on job search
success. In this paper I show that contacts are differently beneficial for job seekers
depending on the stage of the job search process that job seekers are engaged in.
Specifically, three stages of the job search process can be distinguished in which social
contacts fulfill different roles for the job seekers: deciding the types of jobs for which to
apply, submitting job applications, and preparing for interviews. I propose that contacts
who are spread across different occupations are conducive to applying to more types of
jobs, yet it is contacts who are more focused across occupations that are beneficial for
being invited to more interviews—relative to the number of job types applied for—and for
converting the interviews into offers. In addition, contacts with lower relationship depth
with the job seeker are more helpful for getting invited to interviews, whereas contacts
who have more frequent interactions with the job seeker are more helpful for converting
interviews into offers. Analyses using a unique longitudinal data set on the job searches of
226 participants in an MBA program offer robust evidence in support of the hypotheses.
The results suggest that external mobility is best enabled when job seekers engage
with—and learn from—different kinds of contacts across stages of the job search process.
7. Title: Can Informal Communication Networks Disrupt Coordination in New
Product Development Projects?
Authors: Manuel E. Sosa, Martin Gargiulo, Craig Rowles
Abstract: This paper investigates how the structure of the informal communication
network that results from efforts to coordinate task interdependence between design
teams in complex product development projects moderates the effect of task
interdependence on interteam communication. Drawing on theoretical mechanisms from
the social network and knowledge transfer literature, as well as on recent empirical
advances in exponential random graphs models of social networks, we examine how the
presence of a common third party in the communication network affects the likelihood of
technical communication between interdependent teams designing the components of a
large commercial aircraft engine. Although task interdependence has a strong and
significant effect on the likelihood of communication between teams, this effect is
moderated by the presence of common third parties. The nature of this moderation
depends on the position of the common third party within the triadic communication
structure. When the common third party seats in the middle of a communication chain
between the potential source and the potential recipient of technical communication, its
presence increases the likelihood of communication between these two teams. However,
when the communication between the source and recipient can trigger cyclic exchanges
between the three teams, the presence of the third party reduces the likelihood of
communication between the two interdependent teams, increasing the risk of coordination
disruptions. We discuss the implications of our findings on the literature of
intraorganizational networks in new product development.
8. Title: Driving Performance via Exploration in Changing Environments: Evidence
from Formula One Racing
Authors: Alessandro Marino, Paolo Aversa, Luiz Mesquita, Jaideep Anand
Abstract: Until recently, scholars have customarily lumped multiple dimensions of
environmental change into single constructs, and usually ascertained that the more the
context changes, the more value firms derive from higher levels of exploration. In sync
with more recent studies focusing on specific dimensions of change, in this paper we
borrow theoretical elements from systems theory to examine the possibility that the
reward to developing innovative product components may itself be eroded by implicit and
yet burgeoning costs to fit the new component technology into existing architectures,
thereby dampening system performance. Specifically, we theoretically assess how varying
magnitudes of industry regulatory changes affect the optimum level of firm exploration,
and propose—counterintuitively vis-à-vis past literature—that the more radical (i.e.,
competence destroying), as opposed to incremental (i.e., competence enhancing), these
changes are, the more the optimum intensity of firm exploration recedes. Based on
quantitative as well as qualitative empirical analyses from the Formula One racing industry,
we precisely trace the observed performance outcomes back to the underlying logic of our
theory, stressing that impaired capabilities to integrate the new component in the
architecture redesign and time-based cognitive limitations both operate to inhibit the
otherwise positive relationship between firm exploration and performance. In the end, we
offer new insights to theory and practice.
9. Title: Adding by Subtracting: The Relationship Between Performance Feedback
and Resource Reconfiguration Through Divestitures
Authors: Elena Vidal, Will Mitchell
Abstract: This paper draws from performance feedback theory and the resource-based
view of the firm to study divestiture activity. We argue that the extent and nature of
resource reconfiguration through divestiture may be affected by both high and low
extremes of performance relative to a firm’s historical aspirations. Based on analysis of
divestiture counts, we find that firms with increasing performance, especially when they
also have high levels of performance, appear to use divestitures in a “complementary
Penrose effect” that frees resources firms can use for future growth, with the greatest
impact on the number of partial rather than full divestitures. With more limited data on
divestiture value, we find relationships of both increasing and decreasing performance
with divestiture activity. The study uses longitudinal segment-level data for firms operating
in the global pharmaceutical industry between 1999 and 2009.
10. Title: How Is Ambidexterity Initiated? The Emergent Charter Definition Process
Authors: Alexander Zimmermann, Sebastian Raisch, Julian Birkinshaw
Abstract: Ambidexterity research has presented a range of structural and contextual
approaches for implementing a dual orientation across organizations. Much less is known
about the preceding process through which organizations decide to adopt an
ambidextrous orientation. In this paper we focus on this first step—the charter definition
process through which the activities and responsibilities of an organizational unit are
agreed. Most prior studies implicitly assume that senior executives at some point identify
the need to become ambidextrous and subsequently design supportive structures and
contexts to implement their choice. Based on an inductive multilevel case study of four
alliances, we show how this mandated (or top-down) charter definition process can be
complemented with an alternative emergent (or bottom-up) charter definition process in
which frontline managers take the initiative to adopt an ambidextrous orientation in their
part of the organization. This emergent process is important because it enables frontline
managers to respond in a timely manner to changing requirements of which senior
executives are still unaware. We use the findings from our case study to develop
potentially generalizable observations on the level of initiation, the tensions, the
management approaches to deal with the tensions, and the outcomes that characterize
this emergent charter definition process. We then put forward a multilevel process
framework of how organizations initiate an ambidextrous orientation, and we discuss
theoretical implications for the general ambidexterity literature, the nascent dynamic view
on ambidexterity, and the broader research on how charters in organizations evolve.
11. Title: Perspective—The Flaring of Intellectual Outliers: An Organizational
Interpretation of the Generation of Novelty in the RAND Corporation
Authors: Mie Augier, James G. March, Andrew W. Marshall
Abstract: Much of intellectual history is punctuated by the flaring of intellectual outliers,
small groups of thinkers who briefly, but decisively, influence the development of ideas,
technologies, policies, or worldviews. To understand the flaring of intellectual outliers, we
use archival and interview data from the RAND Corporation after the Second World War.
We focus on five factors important to the RAND experience: (1) a belief in fundamental
research as a source of practical ideas, (2) a culture of optimistic urgency, (3) the
solicitation of renegade ambition, (4) the recruitment of intellectual cronies, and (5) the
facilitation of the combinatorics of variety. To understand the subsequent decline of
intellectual outliers at RAND, we note that success yields a sense of competence,
endurance in a competitive world, and the opportunity and inclination to grow.
Self-confidence, endurance, and growth produce numerous positive consequences for an
organization; but for the most part, they undermine variety. Outliers and the conditions that
produce them are not favored by their environments. Engineering solutions to this
problem involve extending time and space horizons, providing false information about the
likelihoods of positive returns from exploration, buffering exploratory activities from the
pressures of efficiency, and protecting exploration from analysis by connecting it to
dictates of identities.
12. Title: The Integration of Psychological and Network Perspectives in
Organizational Scholarship
Authors: Tiziana Casciaro, Sigal G. Barsade, Amy C. Edmondson, Cristina B.
Gibson, David Krackhardt, Giuseppe (Joe) Labianca
Abstract: Although multiple disciplines have been applied to the study of organizations,
organizational research is rarely interdisciplinary in the sense of two or more disciplines
being linked in the joint analysis of organizational phenomena. The articles in this special
issue illustrate the kinds of insights that can be gained by moving from a purely
disciplinary perspective on organizational behavior to an interdisciplinary perspective that
considers network phenomena and psychological phenomena as intertwined in
organizational life. The advances of this special forum notwithstanding, large swaths of
network–psychological integration are still largely unexplored in organizational research.
We highlight a subset of particularly promising avenues for further interdisciplinary
exploration. We also observe that the two research programs have developed into distinct
paradigms, making interdisciplinary discourse challenging, and offer suggestions toward a
greater integration and collaboration across the two research communities.
13. Title: Translating Intentions to Behavior: The Interaction of Network Structure
and Behavioral Intentions in Understanding Employee Turnover
Authors: James M. Vardaman, Shannon G. Taylor, David G. Allen, Maria B. Gondo,
John M. Amis
Abstract: This paper integrates psychological and sociological perspectives to provide a
more complete explanation of the link between intended and actual turnover. Findings
from two studies suggest that the translation of intentions to leave one’s job into turnover
behavior is attenuated by centrality in organizational advice and friendship networks. Our
results demonstrate that psychological and network factors jointly impact employee
turnover, and distinguish the effects of different types of networks (friendship, advice), ties
(in-degree, out-degree), and levels (dyadic, triadic) in the turnover process. We discuss
the implications of these findings for research and practice, and propose a two-stage
model of turnover grounded in temporal construal theory that describes how psychological
and structural factors variously influence the turnover decision process.
14. Title: Interpersonal Perceptions and the Emergence of Leadership Structures in
Groups: A Network Perspective
Authors: D. Scott DeRue, Jennifer D. Nahrgang, Susan J. Ashford
Abstract: We develop and test a multilevel theory explaining how patterns of
interpersonal perceptions explain the emergence of informal leadership structures in
groups. At the group level, we hypothesize that the network pattern of competence and
warmth perceptions among group members determines the amount of leadership
exhibited (leadership structure density) and the degree to which the emergent leadership
structure is centralized or shared (leadership structure centralization). We then identify
two individual-level mechanisms underlying these group-level effects: (a) individuals’
identification with the group and (b) the differentiation of leader-prototypical roles within
the group. Using social network analysis, we test these hypotheses in a sample of 255
MBA consulting teams working full time on projects in 41 different countries over seven
weeks. Our findings establish the emergent nature of leadership structures in
self-managing teams and foreground interpersonal perceptions as an explanation for why
emergent, informal leadership structures vary across teams.
15. Title: The Leader-in-Social-Network Schema: Perceptions of Network Structure
Affect Gendered Attributions of Charisma
Authors: Raina A. Brands, Jochen I. Menges, Martin Kilduff
Abstract: Charisma is crucially important for a range of leadership outcomes. Charisma is
also in the eye of the beholder—an attribute perceived by followers. Traditional leadership
theory has tended to assume charismatic attributions flow to men rather than women. We
challenge this assumption of an inevitable charismatic bias toward men leaders. We
propose that gender-biased attributions about the charismatic leadership of men and
women are facilitated by the operation of a leader-in-social-network schema. Attributions
of charismatic leadership depend on the match between the gender of the leader and the
perceived structure of the network. In three studies encompassing both experimental and
survey data, we show that when team advice networks are perceived to be centralized
around one or a few individuals, women leaders are seen as less charismatic than men
leaders. However, when networks are perceived to be cohesive (many connections
among individuals), it is men who suffer a charismatic leadership disadvantage relative to
women. Perceptions of leadership depend not only on whether the leader is a man or a
woman but also on the social network context in which the leader is embedded.
16. Title: An Altercentric Perspective on the Origins of Brokerage in Social
Networks: How Perceived Empathy Moderates the Self-Monitoring Effect
Authors: Adam M. Kleinbaum, Alexander H. Jordan, Pino G. Audia
Abstract: Social structure matters in organizational life, but our understanding of the
origins of social network structure remains limited. In this paper, we observe that the
literature on individual differences and social networks focuses almost exclusively on ego’
s views of herself and of her network. Our approach complements this egocentric
perspective with a more altercentric view, in which others’ perceptions of and reactions to
ego’s personality and relational behavior shape the structure of ego’s network. Our
altercentric perspective builds on earlier evidence that the construct of self-monitoring is
associated with brokerage, but it suggests that the effect of self-monitoring on brokerage
is amplified in those perceived as highly empathic and attenuated in those perceived as
lower in empathy. A mechanism that underlies this effect is the greater propensity of
others to reciprocate the social interactions of high-empathy, high self-monitors than those
low in empathy. We find support for these predictions in a study of the dynamic
emergence of a social network among a complete cohort of MBA students and conclude
that alters are active agents in the formation of ego’s network.
17. Title: Integrating Personality and Social Networks: A Meta-Analysis of
Personality, Network Position, and Work Outcomes in Organizations
Authors: Ruolian Fang, Blaine Landis, Zhen Zhang, Marc H. Anderson, Jason D.
Shaw, Martin Kilduff
Abstract: Using data from 138 independent samples, we meta-analytically examined
three research questions concerning the roles of personality and network position in
organizations. First, how do different personality characteristics—self-monitoring and the
Big Five personality traits—relate to indegree centrality and brokerage, the two most
studied structurally advantageous positions in organizational networks? Second, how do
indegree centrality and brokerage compare in explaining job performance and career
success? Third, how do these personality variables and network positions relate to work
outcomes? Our results show that self-monitoring predicted indegree centrality (across
expressive and instrumental networks) and brokerage (in expressive networks) after
controlling for the Big Five traits. Self-monitoring, therefore, was especially relevant for
understanding why people differ in their acquisition of advantageous positions in social
networks. But the total variance explained by personality ranged between 3% and 5%.
Surprisingly, we found that indegree centrality was more strongly related to job
performance and career success than brokerage. We also found that personality
predicted job performance and career success above and beyond network position and
that network position partially mediated the effects of certain personality variables on work
outcomes. This paper provides an integrated view of how an individual’s personality and
network position combine to influence job performance and career success.